Sir Michael Caine rejected 'emotional' movie role

Sir Michael Caine once rejected a movie role because it made him too emotional.

The 85-year-old actor has revealed he was in line to star in a movie about a dementia sufferer, but Michael ultimately rejected the part because of the death of his good friend and well-known tailor Doug Hayward, who had battled the disease.

He confessed: "I couldn't. I couldn't do it, no. As an actor, if I'm going to play someone with dementia, I have to keep thinking back to someone I know who had dementia. And the only person I knew was Dougie."

Michael is confident he would have excelled in the role, having previously studied the disease.

But he admitted the emotional stress was simply too much for him to deal with while working on the movie.

He told Radio Times: "I had become so knowledgeable about [dementia]. But I realised emotionally I couldn't do it.

"All day, for two months, thinking about the worst side of Doug, which killed him."

Meanwhile, Michael previously admitted he barely watches any of his old films.

The veteran star explained: "I sometimes see them on television and I'll sit there and watch 10 minutes.

"The only one I watch for any amount of time, I'll watch for a quarter hour or 20 minutes, is 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels'. The rest of them I turn off after about five minutes.

"I have seen them so many times and I know what's coming. The butler did it, or if you're watching 'Batman', the butler didn't do it."